I received some decent feedback on this one and I had some free time so here is the next installment. Tell me what you think.

And since I forgot to mention it in the first chapter, a big thank you to my wonderful little sister for being my editor/ghost-writer.

Enjoy.


Derek awoke the next morning, trying rather hard to remain optimistic about the day ahead. The familiar difficulty to leave his bed returned when he rolled over to face the cold half of his mattress. Waking up alone always put a damper on Derek's morning mood. Somehow, though, he felt good. He couldn't remember what but something was lifting his spirits. What the hell was it? Oh right, that doctor. The blonde from the roof. What was her name? Robbins.

As he poured himself a cup of coffee, black and practically boiling, he contemplated this.

Why had a brief encounter with a random coworker stuck with him? Maybe he just liked the pleasant companionship. Maybe he was just lonely. Maybe it had just been a long time since he had talked to a beautiful woman who wasn't just trying to dig her freshly polished claws into one of his surgeries. Or maybe he was crazy.

He checked the clock on the stove. He still had some time but he didn't have much else to do besides shower. If he got to the hospital early enough, he could check up on that stabbing victim before the hordes of blood-thirsty interns began to swarm him for a surgery. Maybe he'd even run into that blonde again. What the hell was her name again? Robbins. Arizona Robbins. Damn. He'd have to write that down. He'd only ever really spoken to her twice before the roof. As it turned out, neurology and pediatrics didn't really cross paths much. He figured that was a good thing. Maybe kids were finally starting to wear their helmets.

Arizona Robbins was already cruising around the hallways, literally since her sneakers had wheels on them. She had slept at the hospital on account of a semi-constant 911 page she received in regards to a sickly young lad named Tyler who seemed to be having more trouble breathing than usual. She was teetering on the edge of 'somewhat drowsy' and 'night of the living dead'. Still, she powered through. She knew she had a day off coming up at the end of the week and that was enough to pull her through another day of baby aspirin and vomit.

Sure, Dr. Shepherd had crossed her mind. She'd seen him around more than once. The hospital was only so big. Eventually, everybody ran into everybody. She'd be lying if she said she'd never noticed him. Every woman in the hospital noticed Derek at some point or another. If it wasn't the nurses whispering about how he looked in his dark blue scrubs, it was the young interns swooning over his smile. Personally, Arizona was a fan of his hair. She was especially fond of the streak of grey that stood out from its dark brown surroundings. But hey, Shepherd was barely a blip on her radar screen. True, he was a very handsome blip, but a blip nevertheless. She was far too busy to get caught up in McDreamy's cult following. She was too smart for that.

After checking on Tyler (he wasn't doing so hot), Arizona rolled back to the nurses station on her heels for a new stack of charts. Completely on board her own complex train of thought, Arizona wasn't paying any attention to where her shoes were taking her. Luckily, she tuned back into the real world just in time to switch from wheels to solid ground before a taller individual in a lab coat. The human obstacle happened to turn around at the right moment and witness almost being run down by the blonde doctor.

"Dr. Robbins," Derek said, putting his hand on the arm of the pediatrician to steady her. "Nice shoes." Arizona nearly blushed, embarrassed that she'd almost skated right into one of the hospitals most prestigious surgeons.

"Dr. Shepherd," she said, a smile spreading across her pretty face. Derek's heart skipped a beat. Dimples? How did he not notice that she had dimples? Well, the roof was dark. And she hadn't smiled at any point during their initial conversation. "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I had a consult," Derek half-lied. In reality, one of the interns on their peds rotation suspected a kid had a concussion and paged him 911 while he was in surgery. After rushing all the way to second floor to assess the damage, he discovered the child was completely fine and the lump on their head was from a fall a week before. Since he was already in kiddie land, he figured he could lurk around for a few minutes and maybe run into the very doctor to whom he was now speaking. He wasn't sure why he was lying or why his face was beginning to feel hot but that was the situation he was now in.

"Oh, gee," Arizona said, her smile fading as her expression changed to show concern, "is the kid okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, he's fine," Derek recovered, trying to think of a way to steer the conversation away from his fib. "But how is your day going? Better than last night?"

"Yes," Arizona nodded, taking a chart from a friendly nurse, "much better." After skimming the contents of the pale pink binder, Arizona nodded. "But equally busy."

"Never a dull moment here at Seattle Grace," Derek commented lightly, rubbing the back of his neck. He noticed that a few nurses around the two had stopped working momentarily and had begun watching him. He tried to block them out. Once Arizona finished reading the second chart in her pile, she sighed.

"I have to go check up on a post-op four-year-old," she announced dejectedly. When she looked up and saw the slightest bit of disappointment on the attractive attending's face, her expression lightened. "It was nice seeing you, Dr. Shepherd."

"Please," he began, "call me Derek." Arizona smiled again. Derek's eyes took in the beautiful sight of her dimples once more.

"Okay," she responded, "Derek."

A few seconds of uncertain silence passed in which neither was sure whether to stay, leave, or continue speaking. Arizona, however, hadn't a moment to spare and therefore she took the initiative.

"So, I need to get going," she admitted mildly. "But, uh, maybe I'll see you at lunch." Her statement ended with an upward infliction which made it sound more like a question than a declaration. Derek's face lit up though he tried to hide it behind stoic handsomeness. "I sit over by entrance to the maternity ward. On the north side of the cafeteria."

"Yeah," he responded timidly, "Maybe I'll see you there."

Relatively frazzled by the apparent interest from a high-status and eye-catching man of power, Arizona smiled one last time before spinning around, charts in hand, and wheeling down the colorful hall of the pediatric wing.

Once she was out of earshot, Derek released a breath of anxious air he had been storing in his powerful chest. It wasn't until he turned to his left that his heart jumped again. Dr. Miranda Bailey was giving him an authoritative stare.

"Jesus, Dr. Bailey," he said, scratching his neck. "You scared me." Miranda licked her lips and shook her head, instantly returning to the chart she had been filling out. "What?"

"You," she accused. "Hitting on a peds surgeon."

"I wasn't hitting on-… we just met yesterday. It's-it's not anything," he stammered. He wondered what it was about Dr. Bailey that made people sweat.

"Mhm-hmm," Miranda sighed, scribbling her signature on the bottom of some discharge papers.

"What are you even doing down here?" Derek demanded, still flustered by her allegations.

"I had an appendectomy on a nine-year-old," she answered coolly. "What are you doing down here? Besides flirting with perky blonde, I mean."

"I was-…I had a consult," he remembered.

"Mhm-hmm," Miranda repeated, clicking closed the pen in her hand and dropping it in the plastic cup on the counter. She shook her head a few times, even adding in a 'tsk'ing sound for good measure. "A consult." She chuckled as Derek's face turned red. "And here I thought you were hung up on Ellis Grey's daughter." A few of the nurses giggled. Derek looked at his shoes.

"No, Dr. Bailey," he said, clearing his throat to maintain professionalism. Miranda laughed at her friend's embarrassment and patted his arm.

"Hang in there, Dr. Shepherd," she remarked as she headed down the hallway. Derek cleared his throat again, retrieving a chart from an amused nurse and avoiding eye-contact as he exited the children's ward. Then he began counting the seconds until lunch. Maybe he'd run into Arizona again. Maybe he'd eat lunch with her. Or maybe she would completely blow him off. Well, he told himself as he patiently waited for the elevator doors to open, nothing ventured, nothing gained.